18 great things that happened in 2018

What a year it's been! 2018 began on a bleak note with the fog in Delhi bringing the Capital to a halt, 11 people died in an avalanche in Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala was hit by the worst floods in history. We lost Sridevi and we lost Atal Bihari Vajpayee. But it wasn't all gloom and doom. ISRO kept taking big strides in space research, Telangana began providing uninterrupted free power supply to farmers, the under-19 Indian cricket team won the World Cup, India finished third at the Commonwealth Games 2018 and the Maharashtra government banned single-use plastic. We built our 80 millionth public toilet this year and the Supreme Court struck down Section 377 making gay sex legal. ALSO READ: 10 genuinely great things that have happened in India in 2018 (so far) .

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Telengana becomes first state to provide uninterrupted free power supply to farmers - January 2018

While Delhi was battling fog, the government of Telengana announced, on January 1, that they'd supply 24x7 uninterrupted power to the state's 2.3 million farmers free of cost. This decision came as a huge relief to farmers, as everything from motorized pumps to irrigation largely depend on electricity.

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ISRO placed 31 satellites in a single flight - January 2018

On January 12, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched its 100th satellite along with 30 others in a single Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) flight. The launch took place at the Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh, and out of the 31 satellites in its payload, 28 were foreign and three were Indian. One of the three satellites was a Cartosat-2 series satellite, which is used for weather observation.

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India's National Blind Cricket Team won the World Cup - January 2018

The Indian Blind Cricket Team retained their World Cup title by defeating Pakistan by two wickets on January 20. This wasn't an easy feat, as the team was chasing a huge target of 308 runs. However, Sunil Ramesh, who scored 93 runs, along with captain Ajay Tiwari, who scored 63 runs, carried took India's total to 190/3 after 25 movers, and by the 35th over, India had already scored 271/4. The team had previously won the title in 2014, and remained undefeated all through the tournament.

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India National U19 Cricket Team won the World Cup - February, 2018

With this win, India became the only country to have won the U19 World Cup four times. The Indian team, lead by Prithvi Shaw, beat Australia by eight wickets on February 4. Indian bowlers had Australia all out at 216 runs, and thanks to Manjot Kalra's 101 not out, the U19 team paved the way to history. India previously held the titles in 2012, 2008 and 2000.

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Balkrishna V Doshi won the Pritzker Architecture Prize - March 2018

Ahmedabad-based architect, Balkrishna V Doshi became the first Indian to have won the Pritzker Price, which is regarded as the profession's highest honour. BV Doshi, as he is popularly known, is best known for his innovative yet low-cost design housing. He supervised the urban planning for Chandigarh city and also worked on the Mill Owner's Association Building as well as the Shodhan House in Ahmedabad.

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India finished 3rd at the Commonwealth Games 2018 - April, 2018

The Commonwealth Games 2018 became the third most successful games for the country. The country won 66 medals that include 26 golds, 20 silvers and 20 bronze. India came in after Australia and England. The stars of the games were Saina Nehwal, who won a gold for women's badminton, Kidambi Srikanth, who also won a gold for men's singles badminton. From table tennis, Manika Batra scored a gold, while Sharath Kamal won a bronze in men's singles event. India's 10-player table tennis team brought home a record eight medals at the 2018 CWG. Whereas squash players Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa also added to India's silver tally. India's boxing conteingent, led by Mary Kom, also picked up a record of nine medals. Neeraj Chopra also became the first Indian javelin thrower to claim a gold at CWG. Anish Bhanwala, a 15-year-old shooter, became India's youngest-ever gold medalist at the CWG, and India's shooting squad brought in 16 medals with 7 golds, the highest number of gold medals among all the sports. World Champion weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu smashed the Commonweath and the games record, by pulling off clean lifts in all her three attempts, and secured India's first medal as well as gold medal at the tournament. As for wrestling, Bajrang Punia scored a gold, and the Indian wrestling team, comprising Vinesh Phogat, Sumit Malik, Sushil Kumar, Sakshi Malik, and more, brought in 12 medals.

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Gita Gopinath became the first woman to be named IMF's Chief Economist - October, 2018

Gita Gopinath created history when she became the first woman ever to hold the position of the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). She is the second Indian to have held the position after Raghuram Rajan, the former governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Gita grew up in Mysore, and became an Economics graduate after studying at the Delhi School of Economics and Lady Sriram College. She then receive her PhD from Princeton University and even taught at Harvard. Gopinath has also worked closely with the Indian government.

Several years ago, when India set a target of 175 gigawatts of win and solar energy by March 2022, it was thought of as a far-off dream. However, India plowed through and has already reached over 70 GW and 40GW is already under construction, taking the country to rank 5th globally and the target now seems quite easy to achieve. RK Singh, Union Minister of State for Power and New and Renewable Energy said in a statement, "India's current renewable-based power capacity stands at 70 GW, and we will cross the 175-GW target well before 2022. We have new schemes like offshore wind, floating solar, which will help us over-achieve the current target." And due to this, India will now increase its target to 227 GW by March 2022, which will put the country behind China and USA in terms of installed renewable energy capacity.

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Maharashtra Government bans single-use plastic - June, 2018

From June 23, the Government of Maharashtra enforced a ban on the manufacture, usage, sale, transport, handling and storage of all plastic and thermocol products. First and second time violators are now fined between INR5,000 and INR10,000 and third time offenders face a fine of INR25,000 and up to three months in prison.

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India built about 80 million public toilets - July 2018

Under the Swachh Bharat Abhayan, India has been on the greatest toilet-building spree in human history. While this has been an ongoing effort ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came into office, as of 2018, India has successfully built about 80 million since 2014. This effort aims to solving the problems and effects of public defecation.

Dr Bharat Vatwani and Sonam Wangchuk were the two Indians among 2018's recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, which is regarded as the Asian version of the Nobel Prize. Dr Bharat Vaswani was awarded for leading rescue missions of thousands of mentally ill beggars, treating them and then reuniting them with their families. On the other hand, Sonam Wangchuk was honoured for his community-focused work in educating and skilling young people in some of the most remote regions of northern India.

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Indian firm helps rescue the football team trapped in a cave in Thailand - July, 2018

On June 23, a team of 12 football players and their coach were trapped in a cave in Thailand. The Indian Embassy recommended the services of the Kirlosker Brothers' Limited, who expertise in dewatering, to the Thai authorities. Experts from the Pune-based firm were on site since July 5, and offered technical support on dewatering and pumps involved in the rescue operation.

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Hima Das breaks record after record

In July, Hima Das, a 18-year-old Assamese sprint runner, broke records by becoming the first Indian sprinter to win a gold medal at the World U-20 Championships after she participated in the women's 400 meter event. Her record-breaking strike continues at the Asian Games 2018, held in August, Hima qualified for the 400m final and went on to set a new Indian national record after clocking 51.00 in heat 1. Later, she clinched a silver medal in the 400m final, by completing it in 50.79 seconds, and thus beating her own record.

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Supreme Court strikes down Section 377 - September, 2018

September 6, 2018, will go down in history as the day India finally got rid of the draconian law Section 377. The 158-year-old law that criminalized carnal intercourse as well oral sex with men, women and animals was partially struck down effectively making gay sex legal.

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MeToo arrived in India

It took a year but the #MeToo movement finally arrived on Indian shores, first with Tanushree Dutta accusing Nana Patekar of behaving inappropriately with her on a film set in 2008. Before long the movement consumed some of the most prominent names across industries. Journalists, filmmakers, comedians -- no one was spared as women spoke up and revealed their personal #MeToo stories.

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SC makes Aadhar Card non-mandatory - September, 2018

After the NDA government declared that Aadhar Card should be mandatory for all Indians, the Supreme Court, while upholding its constitutional validity, struck down its compulsions. It ruled that the submission of Aadhar card was not compulsory for creating bank accounts, obtaining mobile connections or for school admissions.

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A man with 95 per cent disability received his PhD

Akshansh Gupta remained still for hours after he was born, leading doctors to believe he was dead. After some movement, the family took him to the doctors of his hometown, Jaunpur, where they wrongly treated him for polio. It was later found that Akshansh was actually suffering from celebral palsy, which left 95 per cent of his body disabled. Despite these hardships, Akshansh, now 35, went on to earn a PhD in Computer Science. And he didn't stop there, he is now also working on a start-up.

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Virat Kohli's record-breaking spree continues - October, 2018

On October 24, Indian Cricket Team captain Virat Kohli broke another record. He became the fastest batsmen to score 10,000 runs in One-Day Internationals. Sachin Tendulkar, who previously held this title achieved this feat in 259 innings; Virat did it in only 205 innings.